Florida man shooed raccoon off his boat 30km from land: now under investigation

RTL|Update: 15.05.2019 13:11

A viral video shows a man shouting "get the f*** off my boat!" and "so long, sucker" as he shooed a raccoon off his boat and into the water.

While raccoons can swim, it is considered unlikely that it would have made it all the way back to shore - some 30 kilometres away. The raccoon had been hiding on the boat for a couple of hours before making its presence known.

The man who posted the video to social media, where it has since spread rapidly and been widely condemned, later said to the Tampa Bay Times that "the only realistic option we could think of in the moment was to get the raccoon off the boat."

The incident is currently under investigation by Florid's wildlife agency, who have condemned the act.